Non-regulation basement suites and you

[Oracle]

Just wondering if anyone (in Canada) has had any experience renting out a non-regulation basement suite. Just looking for advice, and maybe some points that I haven't thought of myself.

Have a guy moving in at the end of the month, and he's perfectly aware that the 'suite' is not a legal suite, i.e. no separate address on the house, and the windows are not to legal size for escape windows (this guy couldn't fit out legal ones, anyway, heh). I can fit out the windows, and I'm about 5' 11" and 180lbs.

The guy moving in isn't a friend or anything, but was referred to me by my mom's guy. They work together, and I also happen to work at the same company.

I assume that this will be treated as more of a 'room mate' scenario (as far as financials), but I am putting in a separate kitchen and private entrance (well, shared entry with separate locks going upstairs and down), so there will be no shared living space besides the laundry room.

I just don't wanna get bit in the ass with anything major that I may have overlooked.

[Flip]

This is all for US, so it might not be exactly the same:

As far as i know, you can rent out the space no problem. There isnt anything illegal about renting space even if its not technically a bedroom. The guy could be living in your closet, crawlspace, or attic, it doesnt matter. The only thing is that you cant list your house as, say, a 3 bedroom (once you decide to sell) if it really only has 2 real bedrooms and one unofficial one.

For your return you simply calculate how much square footage you are renting out so you can proportionally write off the electricity, water, cable, mortgage interest, RE taxes, etc, against your rental income. No where in the code does it ask how many bedrooms you rent out, just how much square feet is used as the estimate of total house rented out.

If you wanted to be shady, and a lot of people do it, you wouldnt even declare anything about a roommate and on your personal tax section you deduct all the mortgage insurance and RE tax for yourself while quietly depositing the rent checks to your checking and not declaring any income from it. Your renter, though, would file a return with your address so any government agent with half a brain would figure out 2 people are in the same location if they spent 2 seconds looking at it.

[kali o.]

Depends.

In BC, unauthorized accomodations are pretty common (especially due to higher prices and need of mortgage helpers). The government doesn't enforce bylaws and everyone is happy.

I'm willing to bet enforcement is as non-existent where you live.

I'm not sure how property/renters/liability insurance is handled in those cases....which would be my only concern if doing something similar. I'd imagine a call into an insurance broker would clear it up better than a post here would.

[Oracle]

Depends.
I'm not sure how property/renters/liability insurance is handled in those cases....which would be my only concern if doing something similar. I'd imagine a call into an insurance broker would clear it up better than a post here would.

Yup, a call to them is a good idea. I'll do that.

[Mental]

Whoops, my bad. I posted something about construction before I re-read the post and realized you were just trying to get around renting regs and not anything else.

I think the MO is "keep quiet and don't rock the boat", in general, when it comes to building regulations and nonstandard arrangements.